Thursday, August 6, 2015

New book on police misconduct by Lou Reiter


My second novel about police misconduct is off the press.  “Shattered Badges” continues to follow the police misconduct and liability cases being unraveled by my fictional consultant, Taylor Sterling.  Some might find Taylor to be a little like the author, Lou Reiter.  This version is a little longer pushing 500 pages.  The format is the same with each chapter being a separate police case with a beginning and an end.

The first chapter finds Taylor in New Jersey working on a case of a misdirected prosecution of an officer for a fatal shooting.  The young cop is caught between the political power plays of the local and state prosecutor.  What could an outside consultant do?

The second case weaves its way into the wrongful conviction of a drug dealer in Indiana.  Of course the drug dealer now expects to get a big payout for his eight years on death row.  Taylor is there to give the insurance carrier some ammunition that might lower that payout, but gets involved in the sloppy operation of the drug unit.

It's a steamy chapter about civil demonstrations that takes Taylor to a small college in Oregon.  This chapter gets into the underlying concepts of crowd and demonstration control and the different style of policing on a college campus.

Two fatal SWAT operations in a small town in Kentucky frighten the insurance pool covering the agency.  Taylor is there to evaluate these incidents and the inherent hazards of this type of unit.

The fifth chapter deals with speed…police pursuits…highway interdiction.  The small sleepy town in the middle of nowhere Kansas has got itself into a pile of trouble with some police fatal crashes.

The last chapter deals with police greed and choices.  How can a department turn its head when the devil is active inside the agency and good people are being hurt?  It’s Taylor task to uncover what went wrong in this town outside the sprawl of Cleveland.

Cops should like these stories.  Bosses might cringe.  For the person not directly involved in police misconduct these cases will be informational.  In the end, the book is a good read.  I’d appreciate some feedback on your read.

You can get your copy at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBook, Deeds Publishing Marietta GA, or Public Agency Training Council.